


You're (not) the one that I want

by shinxhara (hkeenster)



Series: gay rights !! FUCK mcu canon. [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Bad Matchmaking, Bisexual Peter Parker, Coming Out, Everyone Thinks They're Together, F/F, F/M, Heteronormativity, Homophobic Language, Lesbian Michelle Jones, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Minor Michelle Jones/Cindy Moon, Miscommunication, Overthinking, POV Alternating, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, and, anyways FUCK heteronormativity, but its okay!! they mean well and apologize uwu, from Peter, lots of it!!, no beta we die like men, only once and its from flash ://, peter n mj's friends are kinda pushy :((, the mjshuri isnt til the end sorry, this is just a prequel anyways kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 06:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18888832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkeenster/pseuds/shinxhara
Summary: “So, what’s going on with you and Peter?” Betty whispered with a wide grin. Mj blinked once. Twice.“What’s going on with me and Peter?” She repeated, incredibly confused.-or; Peter & Mj's friend are convinced the two are hopelessly pining for each other and decide to step in and help them out no matter how many times the two object to it.





	You're (not) the one that I want

**Author's Note:**

> i started this back in late january. enjoy i guess

**Monday, Lunch.**

Peter thought he was having a pretty good day today. He aced the pop quiz they had yesterday, he finally got Mj to laugh at one of his science pun t-shirts (the ones that she always calls stupid), and he was finally going to work up the nerve to ask out the cute new intern Tony had introduced him to the week before. For once his so-called Parker-Luck wasn’t rearing its ugly head.

He smiled to himself as he watched Mj get up and exit the cafeteria, bidding them goodbye. Nothing could ruin his mood today.

Or, at least that’s what he thought, until he heard Ned breath out a quiet gasp once Mj left, and snapped his head to Peter, looking like he just had his third eye opened. He began hitting Peter on the arm, a bit excessively, as if he was trying to get his attention even though Peter was already looking at him.

“What, what? Stop hitting me.” Peter gently slapped Ned’s hand away and waited for him to share his supposedly super important revelation.

“Dude, Mj’s totally crushing on you!” He whispered very loudly, definitely defeating the point of trying to whisper it in the first place. Peter blinked slowly, trying to comprehend what Ned just told him.

_Wait, what?_

_What?_

“WHAT?!” Peter shouted out instinctively, then quickly looking around apologetically to the people near them that he startled.

Mj had a crush on him? That couldn’t be right. That definitely wasn’t right. Why would Ned come to that conclusion? Did she tell him that? No, no, she knows as well as everyone else how bad Ned is with secrets (sorry, Ned.)

He must’ve just came to that conclusion, then. What made him think that? Peter’s known Mj since their freshmen year, though back then she always ignored him. Since she became captain of the decathlon team, she opened up more and they were finally becoming actual friends. He racked his brain trying to think of what Mj could’ve done to give off the impression that she liked him, but he came up with nothing.

He must’ve had a distressed look on his face while he was deep in thought, because Ned patted his shoulder and gave him reassurance that he really didn’t want.

“Don’t worry, man. We know Mj’s dads, neither of them are gonna turn out to be super villains trying to kill you like the last time you asked a girl out.” 

“What? I’m not gonna ask her out. We’re finally becoming close friends, I don’t wanna ruin that. Besides, I don’t even like her like that.” Peter said, frowning down at his lunch tray.

“Are you sure? I’ve seen the way you two look at each other.” Peter’s head snapped back up to Ned, who had a knowing look on his face, like he just caught Peter in his lie.

Wait, his lie? It wasn't a lie, he only liked Mj as a friend. Right? The doubt was sinking in, maybe he _did_ like Mj, he just never realized it? He did think she was pretty cool. And smart. And she _is_ really pretty. Did that mean he liked her? Those were just observations though, it means nothing. Right? Ned is saying that she likes him, but he doesn’t feel the same way he felt when he found out Liz liked him back. It's different. He doesn’t _like her_ like her. They’re just friends.

He smiled at that thought. But wait, if Mj likes him like that then does that mean she wants to date him? He doesn’t really want to date Mj, as cool as she may be. If she tells him and he turns her down does that mean they won’t be friends anymore? His smile disappears from his face at the thought. He really doesn’t want that to happen. He distantly heard Ned reassure him more that Mj will definitely say yes when he asks her out. He had to ask her out now? This was too much. The bell for the next class rang and Peter was out of his seat instantly and left the cafeteria without a word to Ned or anyone else he passed that tried to get his attention.

_______

**Still Monday, Still Lunch.**

Mj was having an okay day so far. She finished reading her novel and checked out the sequel to it immediately after with no trouble. She finished drafting the new practice teams and their questions for the decathlon club. She already got all her homework for all her classes so far today done. It wasn’t the best day, there was still a lot more she could’ve done, but it wasn’t terrible either. She just got up from the lunch table she sat at with Peter and Ned (she had sat a bit closer to them than the day before, but if they noticed they didn’t say anything) and was going to head to Mr. Harrington’s room to tell him about the new teams and questions she drafted. Today was okay, it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t terrible either.

At least, that’s what she thought before one Betty Brant linked arms with her and proceeded to drag her off to another lunch table which sat her other two decathlon teammates, Cindy and Sally. Don’t get her wrong, she’s known Cindy and Sally since freshmen year when she first joined decathlon, and after Liz left, Betty had approached her and offered her copy of all of Liz’s decathlon notes to help her since she was the new captain. Betty knew so much about the team, and plenty about the actual facts they memorized from helping Liz practice plenty of times that Mj offered her a spot on the team, to which Betty jumped at the chance, and since then she’s pretty sure Betty considered Mj her best friend, a title she was totally okay with having. The four girls were good friends, and whenever Mj wasn’t sitting with Peter and Ned, she’d sit with them. 

But when she sat down the other three girls leaned in close, looking slightly mischievous, she knew her formally okay day was going to end poorly.

“So, what’s going on with you and Peter?” Betty whispered with a wide grin. Mj blinked once. Twice. 

“What’s going on with me and Peter?” She repeated, incredibly confused. A small frown grew on her face, she didn’t like being confused.

Sally leaned forward, “don’t play dumb! How long have you guys been together?” 

Mj repeated again, “we’re together? We’re not together.” She replied, bluntly. Cindy rolled her eyes and Mj watched as she reached over the table to take Mj’s hands in hers. Cindy’s hands were really soft. Mj momentarily forgot what they were talking about.

“You think you can lie to us? Mj, we saw you two just now. Staring into each other’s eyes,” _not true,_ “you laughing at something nerdy he said,” _he bought a new shirt that was actually funny, sue me,_ “I mean, we don’t blame you. Peter’s really cute.” Cindy finished. _You’re cuter,_ Mj wanted to say.

Mj didn't know why she felt the need to defend herself, but she did anyways. “It was a good science pun for once.” She said, instinctively squeezing Cindy’s hands which still held hers.

“Mj, you know as well as we do that his shirts are never funny, and you laughed out loud at it. I’ve never seen you do that, and I’m your best friend. You totally like him.” Betty said, confidently.

“I don’t like him.” Mj stated, then immediately felt bad. “I don't like him like _that_.” She clarified. Peter was a good friend to her, even if he wasn’t totally truthful with her all the time. She understood anyways, so it wasn't a big deal.

The looks on the other girls’ faces looked like they didn’t believe her at all.

“Have you guys even been on one date?” Sally asked.

“We haven’t been on a date because we aren’t dating.” Mj fought an eyeroll.

“Wait, seriously? He hasn’t asked you out after all this time? He’s liked you since like, our sophomore year.”

“He hasn’t asked me out because he doesn’t like me. It’s not that deep.”

“That doesn’t sound right. Hey, can I borrow your phone?” Betty asked.

“Sure, whatever,” Betty reached down and grabbed her phone from her pocket. “Peter and I are just friends, there’s nothing going on between us--” Mj cut herself off when she heard chimes from the other girls’ phones.

Cindy let go of Mj’s hands and her and Sally reached to grab their phones. Mj turned to Betty who had slid her phone back to her, showing the Academic Decathlon group chat open with a new message sent.

_Group: AcaDeca, 9 members_  
**Mj** : Practice cancelled today for undisclosable reasons and moved to tomorrow. Same time, don’t be late or else.  
_6 people have seen this_

“Practice wasn’t cancelled today.” Mj said immediately after reading the message.

“Well, yeah, _we_ know that. Peter doesn’t.” Betty replied, pulling her own phone out and messaging someone that Mj couldn’t see.

“I’m not following.”

“Don’t worry, we got your back.” Betty smiled and Mj had a terrible feeling about tomorrow’s practice. The lunch bell rang before Mj could say anything in response and the four of them got up and proceeded to their next class.

_______

**Tuesday, After School.**

**Harley <3**: what time are you gonna get here????

**Peter** : idk probably not til 6?

**Harley <3**: dude why so late don't you get outta school at like 3

**Peter** : i have decathlon practice today

**Harley <3**: lame

**Peter** : its not lame!

**Harley <3**: laaaaaaaame

**Peter** : :(

**Harley <3**: quit ur club

**Peter** : what

**Harley <3**: join my emo robot band

**Peter** : harley

**Harley <3**: peter

**Harley <3**: theres no way you can come sooner than that?

**Peter** : sorry no :(

**Harley <3**: :((((((

**Peter** : i gotta go, practice is starting

**Harley <3**: no just text me during practice

**Peter** : im not a rule breaker harley

**Peter** : unlike SOME people

**Harley <3**: wow you go against the warning sign ONE TIME and its held against you forever

**Peter** : you blew up a lab harley

**Harley <3**: you literally have no evidence proving it was me????

**Peter** : we were literally there in the lab with you. Friday recorded it. Tony had to make a whole protocol around you not being allowed around the chemicals in the labs without someone else present. Riri did nothing but glower at you for 2 hours straight. It was her lab.

**Harley <3**: get out of here with your FACTS

**Peter** : okay bye :)

**Harley <3**: WAIT NO

Peter locked his phone with a smile and made his way to the gym for Academic Decathlon practice. Practice is usually only an hour long, but Peter wanted at least two hours for patrol before heading over to the tower. He couldn’t tell Harley this of course, since he’s kept his identity as Spider-Man a secret from the other 3 “interns” he works with. As far as they know, Peter’s just a regular kid who knows Spider-Man and upgrades his tech for him. He could tell the others his secret, he definitely trusts them. Plus its not like he’d be the odd one out of their group considering two of them are up for the Iron Man mantle, and one’s a princess with a super-powered brother, but he can’t bring himself to finally come clean about it.

Also it’s fun to hear Harley, Riri, and Shuri gush about Spider-Man with him without realizing that they’re praising Peter. 

He pushed into the gym, taking out his earphones and walked in only to find it empty. Weird, he could’ve sworn practice was moved to today. A confused frown made its way onto his face, maybe he misread the message? Oh well, this just means he gets an extra hour for patrol time. With a smile, he turned to leave only to be intercepted by Mj, who opened the door to the gym right as he went to leave.

“Ditching practice again?” She asked, and pushed past him to take a seat at one of the tables and began setting up for practice.

“What? Uh-- no! I just thought-- well, I was the first one here and that _never_ happens so I figured I got the location for practice mixed up--?”

“We’ve been practicing in the gym since freshman year.”

“Right, yea, I know. I’ll just…” He sat down across from Mj and patiently waited while she got her note cards together. “Where is everyone?” He asked, looking towards the gym door, waiting for someone else to show up.

“Late, probably. Or…” Mj trailed off and paused to think. Betty had implied her and the girls were going to do something about the practice today. It didn’t explain why none of the other guys weren't here. Even their teacher, Mr. Harrington wasn’t here yet. “Nevermind.” Mj finished when Peter turned to look at her. 

They sat in silence, Mj shuffling the cards and Peter fiddling with his jacket strings while they waited for their other members to show up. The silence was broken when both their phones went off at the same time.

“Uh, Ned says he’s gonna be late for today’s practice.” Peter said, frowning down at his phone. He watched as he got another message seconds after Ned’s. “And Abe…” His phone went off again. “And Charles. And… Flash? How did he even get my number?” Peter stared down at the four identical texts in confusion.

“What a coincidence. Betty, Cindy and Sally said the same thing.” Mj dryly said, practically glaring down at her phone. She got the messages in the group chat she shared with the girls, along with a bunch of good luck texts paired with hearts and kissy face emojis. Mj looked back up to Peter, who went from staring at his phone in confusion to staring at it in utter panic. Seems like he caught on to what their friends were doing, then. Mj sighed and prepared to explain what the girls had planned to him. “Listen, Peter. I—“

“Sorry!” Peter shouted as he abruptly stood up from his seat, cutting her off. “I just remembered, I have a— thing I need to get to. Sorry, I’ll make it up to you! Sorry!” She watched as he practically raced out of the room, not missing him put on some type of bracelet on his wrist as he went.

Not five minutes later, she looked out the window of the gym to the front of the school and saw a car chase, with the vigilante Spider-Man following close behind. Mj huffed, _at least he didn’t skip out because of the misunderstanding_. Had he done that, she would’ve killed him.

She was about to get up and leave herself when she heard a thud and a quiet curse come from the stage. She rolled her eyes and looked up to the slightly moving curtain that covered the stage. “You can come out now.” 

Slowly, one by one with Ned being the first because he was pushed out, the decathlon team including their teacher came out from behind the stage curtain and filed down and sat at the tables, heads bowed and silent.

Mj smirked. “You’re late.”

_______

**Wednesday, 2nd Period.**

“It isn’t even halfway through the day and you’re already watching the clocks better than your experiments.” Mj commented, snapping Peter out of his daze. “At least wait til 5th period to start ogling the clocks, Parker.” She smirked and he let out a nervous chuckle, quicking returning to his work.

He was too excited about his day today to focus on anything. The night before Harley had finished his prototype for his Iron Lad armor and had asked Peter to help him test it today. Even though Riri or even Mr. Stark himself would’ve been a better option since they’re both familiar with suits. He didn’t point this out to Harley of course, fearing that the boy may change his mind and he’d miss out of this chance to spend more time with him. He glanced back at the clock one more time, just 7 more hours to go.

“You’re doing everything wrong.” Peter’s head snapped back up to Mj, who was looking down at his paper. “Title of my new book I’m writing. I’m dedicating it to you as my inspiration. You’re using the wrong formula for that problem, what would Mr. Stark say to that?” Peter’s head whipped back to his paper with wide eyes, realizing after triple checking his work that she was just messing with him. He let out a dry laugh.

“Don’t joke like that, I’m pretty sure he has my watch bugged.”

“Bold of you to assume he’s only bugged your watch.” She held a straight face for about four seconds before breaking out into quiet laughter, Peter joining in.

They quietly laughed to themselves, as to not disturb the rest of the class, until they heard the sound of a camera going off. They turned to Ned, who sat next to them and currently had his phone out and not-so-discreetly pointed at them, looking guilty.

“Did-- did you just take a picture of us?” Peter asked, incredibly confused.

“What? No, no, I was uh-- taking a picture of the notes on the board!” As if to prove his point, he aimed his phone away from them and towards to board, which held the notes that they had all already written down in their notebooks. Mj leaned forward, squinting her eyes at Ned who looked like he was about to crack under pressure and snatched his phone from him.

She unlocked it after guessing his password easily, standing up out of her seat to sit on the other side of Peter who blocked Ned from grabbing his phone back and opened his recent text messages, which were to Betty.

**BettyB** : you have this class with them, don’t you? Are they doing anything?? Is he making a move??????

**Ned** : I think she’s flirting with him!!

**BettyB** : PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN

**Ned** : [sent a pic]

The picture was the one Ned took of them seconds ago, a shaky, poorly framed picture of Peter and herself smiling with their heads ducked low in an effort to mask their laughter. Mj felt her face burn in both annoyance and embarrassment. She deleted the picture from his phone and tossed it back to him with a frown evident on her face.

“You okay?” Peter asked, reaching a hand out to probably put on her shoulder and comfort her about something he doesn’t understand. She slapped his hand away.

“Fine.” and returned to her work, facing away from both Peter and Ned.

_______

**Wednesday, Lunch.**

Despite what happened in 2nd period, Mj still sat with Peter and Ned that day. Sitting a little bit closer to them than the day before, not like they ever noticed. She was half reading her book and half listening to their conversation, Peter was talking to Ned about a few new interns from his internship with Tony Stark. A topic they tended to drift to pretty much daily.

Their conversation was cut off, though, when Betty Brant suddenly appeared next to Ned and fumbled over an excuse about needing him for something. Ned looked confused until Betty shot him a look that made him get up out of his seat and trail after Betty, leaving his food tray behind.

“So…” Mj started, breaking the silence that fell upon them after Betty dragged Ned away. Peter looked up, and Mj shrugged her shoulders, “How’s your internship going?” She asked, and Peter’s face lit up at the thought of getting to talk about his internship with someone who didn’t think he was lying about it, not including Ned.

“Uh-- great! I’m just doing what I usually do, fixing stuff up with Mr. Stark, upgrading tech, working on my own projects, but last week Mr. Stark brought in three other kids and they’re really cool.” Peter finished and Mj nodded along, a grin resting on her face as she waited for him to continue. “There’s Riri, I met her first, she was pretty closed off and just wanted to work on her su-- uh, projects, but she’s been opening up around the rest of us more. There’s Shuri, she’s a princess,” he whispered that last bit,” and she’s insanely smart! Uh-- not that Riri isn’t smart either, they’re both amazing! And they create such different things that are such innovations to technology, it gets me everytime they show off something new. I think you’d get along with Shuri. Oh and then there’s Harley,” Mj didn’t miss the immediate smile that made its way onto Peter’s face when he mentioned the boy, “He was the last one of the three I met, we clicked instantly. We spend more time in each other’s labs than we do in our own and there’s never an awkward moment between us, we get along so well, it feels like I’ve known him my whole life.” 

“And there’s awkward moments between you and the girls?” Mj inquired.

“I mean— kinda? They’re really cool, but sometimes they just want to work on their projects when I’m bugging them. With Harley, he never asks me to leave, he asks me to help him out, or if I had any ideas. He’s the best.”

“I can tell.” Mj smirked at Peter and he smiled before realizing what she was insinuating.

“It’s— it’s not like that! We’re just friends!” He stuttered out, face going red.

“I didn’t say otherwise, but if you weren’t, that’d be okay too.”

His face settled back into a stressed smile, one Mj returned while they sat in mutual silence.

Mutual silence that was broken when Mj heard hushed laughter and chatter coming from the table next to them. She looked over and saw Betty, Ned, Cindy and Sally sitting at the table together, all leaning over the table talking in hushed whispered and staring over at her and Peter. They noticed her watching and Betty flashed her a thumbs up with a wink. Mj frowned and looked back at Peter, who seemed to notice them watching as well. She saw Ned mouth something to Peter that she didn’t quite catch, but whatever he said put Peter on edge. He stared down at his empty tray and kept sneaking looks at Mj, always looking back down when he realized she was still looking at him.

“Peter--” Mj started, but was cut off, again, when Peter stood up with his tray and made up an excuse about needing to see a teacher before next period started. Mj sighed and watched him go then turned to glare at the four who were watching them. They got up from their seat and moved to Mj’s table, unfazed by her glare.

“Don't worry,” Betty said, “Ned and I came up with a plan to help you. We’ll tell you about it tomorrow.” 

“I want no part of this plan.” Mj stated, and Betty laughed, thinking she was joking for whatever reason.

_______

**Thursday, Before School.**

Mj sat on the steps outside the school reading, waiting for the bell to ring. She wore headphones and blocked out the world while she did so. She was just getting to the climax of her book when someone tapped on her shoulder to get her attention.

She ignored them, of course, she could afford to lose a few points when it comes to being polite in favor of finally finding out what happens in her books.

Another tap, this time more persistent. She gave a sigh and took out a headphone, looking up to see Betty and Ned standing in front of her.

“Oh. Hey. What do you want?” She asked bluntly, itching to get back to her book.

“Remember what I said yesterday? About my plan to solve the Peter problem?” Betty sat next to her on the steps and Mj closed her book.

“I don’t recall. I didn’t know Peter was a problem. Who’s gonna tell him? I vote Ned.” Mj said, knowing full well that this conversation will end the same way all the others did and trying her best to divert it away.

“What? I’m not telling him!” Ned said from where he stood in front of the two girls. “He isn’t a problem, anyways.”

“Betty thinks he is.”

“You both know what I meant. I mean Peter’s problem with being too scared to ask out Mj.” Betty said, turning to face her again. “We came up with a plan to help him so that we can finally get you two together and put a stop to all this useless pining!”

“Nope, no, for the last time, there is no ‘useless pining’ between us.” Mj said, distantly wondering why God hated her enough to put her through this.

“You can keep denying it all you want, but I do have eyes, Mj.” Betty sassed. “Okay, so the plan is simple: a double date! Ned and I with you and Peter! You and I will be hanging out and casually bump into them and it’ll become a group date! Then Ned and I will take off, leaving you two alone, finally. You can thank me later.”

“I’m not thanking you.”

“I don’t need it anyways! Anything to help my bestie find her true love is thanks enough!” Betty claimed, not listening to anything Mj was saying. Mj heeved the longest sigh she could’ve possibly given.

“You guys have fun with that, then.” She said, and got up off the stairs and left into the school, planning to lock herself in the nearest classroom.

“Oh, wait! I didn’t get to tell you when and where!” Betty called out, but Mj stuck in her headphones again and pretended not to hear her. Betty turned to Ned, “eh, it’ll be fine. I’ll just text it to her! Oh, and don’t forget to tell Peter about it too, but don’t let him know that Mj knows about it too! I’ll see you later, bye!” Betty said, waving him goodbye and rushing into the school.

“Yea, bye!” He called out a second after she already went inside.

_______

**Thursday, After School.**

“So, Betty had this awesome idea, you’re obviously too nervous to ask Mj out yourself, so she and Mj are going out saturday to hang out and you and I are gonna “accidentally” run into them and have a group date! Don’t worry though, Betty and I will dip out before it ends so you and Mj can have some time alone.” Ned said as they were on their way to decathlon practice.

“Ned, for the last time, I don’t want to ask out Mj. She doesn’t like me that way.” 

“That’s weird, she kinda said the same thing when we told her the idea. Then she walked away before we could tell her where we were planning to meet up, Betty texted her though, so it’s all good.”

“If we’re both saying the same things, have you considered that it might be true?” Peter stopped and turned to face him. He took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself, “I only like Mj as a friend. I don’t want to date her, there’s… someone else I have in mind…” He trailed off near the end.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me??” _I tried, multiple times…_ Peter thought. “Well, who is it? Cindy? Sally? Allison? Lindsay?” Ned gasped and leaned away from Peter, having a sad look on his face. “It’s not Betty, is it? Oh my god, that’s why you didn’t tell me. You like Betty. We both like the same girl and now our friendship is going to fall apart like in the movies. Oh no! I don’t wanna lose you over a girl! You’re my best friend!” Ned cried out, jumping to conclusions and looking distraught.

“Ned, Ned! Calm down, You’re my best friend too, and I don’t like Betty! You don’t know them, they don’t go here. They’re… from my internship.” Peter cursed himself, the way he’s saying it sounds like a total lie or excuse to get out of a date with Mj.

“Oh, you told me about them,” Ned said after calming down. “There’s two of them, right? The princess, Shuri and the quiet one, was her name Riley?” Peter frowned, Ned clearly forgot one of them and ‘quiet’ definitely wasn’t the word he would use to describe Riri.

“No, there’s three of them, Shuri, Riri, and Harley.”

“I remember you talking about Harley, but he’s a guy, right? So you have a crush on either Shuri or Riri. It’s Shuri, isn’t it? You have a thing were you tend to get crushes on girls that are hilariously out of your league, uh, no offense.” Ned said when he noticed the hurt look Peter got on his face.

Peter shook his head, “never mind.” And continued walking to the gym for the practice that they were probably late for. Peter felt sick, he tried to tell Ned about who he liked and Ned automatically ruled Harley out because he was a boy, like Peter. 

He pushed his thoughts away and tried to focus on anything else. The two walked into the gym and found that everyone was already there, and they were waiting at the tables, which only had two seats open. A seat open on Betty’s right which Ned raced to after getting a not subtle gesture from the girl, and a seat next to Mj’s. Peter reluctantly sat himself in the only open seat and flashed an awkward smile that she paid no mind to. She didn’t even look at him.

“So,” Mj started, getting up out of her seat right when Peter sat down next to her, “we’re going to do something new today. Betty?” Betty got out of her seat and went to stand by Mj, looking confused.

“We are? You never do anything new. How come you didn’t tell me?” Betty whispered.

“Because I just came up with it 2 minutes ago.” Mj whispered back then turned back to the team. “We’re going to split into two groups and practice like usual, I’ll practice with one half and Betty will take the other half.” She paused to let them process what she just said. “So, Ned, Sally, Flash and Peter?” The four looked up at their names called. “You’re with Betty. You’ll work on the other side of the gym. Way over there,” she pointed, “away from the rest of us. Go.” 

“Uh-- wait!” Betty interjected when she realized what Mj was doing. “It’s uneven! We can’t have that. So how about we move...” she paused, feigning being deep in thought, “Peter! We can move Peter to your team.” Betty nodded, satisfied with herself.

“It’d still be uneven, so it doesn’t matter. Peter stays with your team.” Mj said, and turned to the three that were on her team.

“But-- uh..” Betty tried to come up with something else to get Peter on Mj’s team, but she came up short.

“We don’t want Penis Parker on our team!” Flash complained loudly, an action that would usually go ignored by the rest of the team.

“Yea!” Betty agreed, she would apologize to Peter later. It was for his benefit, after all. He’d understand.

Mj gave an exaggerated sigh and turned back to face them. She looked to Peter for the first time today and saw his brows furrowed and a frown on his face. She looked away from him and looked at Betty, who wore a determined look on her face. She raised a brow at Mj, as if she were challenging her.

“Fine.” Mj finally said and Betty smirked, thinking she got her way. Mj rolled her eyes, “Peter sits out of today’s practice, not like he needs it anyways. Plus the teams will be even, not like that even mattered. The issue is over, now get to practice.” Mj said sterning, finally turning and walking away with her group trailing after her. She left no room to argue and Betty sighed in defeat.

“What… was that?” Peter asked to Ned, who was also silent during that whole ordeal.

“Well, she complimented you, while also singling you out? Hey, at least you don’t have to practice.” Ned said, before going with Betty’s group to the other side of the gym, leaving Peter sitting there alone, still very confused as to what went down.

_______

**Thursday, 4:00pm.**

Today was the worst, first the botched attempt at coming out to Ned, and now Mj won’t even look at him for whatever reason. With a sigh, he trudged into an alleyway and prepared to change into his suit and throw himself into patrol for the rest of the day. Mr. Stark might be worried he skipped his internship time today, but Peter was too upset to care.

A noise cut him off from changing, and he looked down to his pile of clothes where his phone was currently buzzing.

**Caller ID: Harley <3**

Peter felt a smile creep onto his face, maybe today still had some potential.

_______

**Friday, Lunch.**

Betty walked up to their table with Cindy and Sally in tow and slammed her hands down on it, effectively startling Peter and Ned out of their conversation whilst grabbing their attention. “What did you do?” She asked, looking (glaring) at Peter.

“Uh-- what?” Peter replied, a bit intimidated and incredibly confused.

“Mj! What did you say to her?”

“Nothing! We haven’t talked since Wednesday!” Peter said, recalling the way Mj clearly avoided him all day on Thursday and how he hadn’t seen her at all today.

“Well, then, what happened? Did you guys get in a fight?” Cindy asked, a lot calmer than Betty had.

“Did you two break up?” Sally piped up, leaning forward with a glare, “Did you break her heart?”

“What?! No! We weren’t even dating!” Peter replied, looking visibly upset at the thought of breaking Mj’s heart.

“But you can’t deny that you two like each other, so what gives? Why haven’t you asked her out yet?” 

“Yea! You guys are so cute together, why are you avoiding each other?” Cindy added.

“We aren’t--” Peter tried to say, but realized that since finding out about Mj’s supposed feelings for him, he always made up an excuse to leave whenever the two had been left alone together, which was happening a lot recently. Mj must’ve realized that he knows and took his constant leaving as rejection, and started to avoid him too. Did he unknowingly wreck their friendship in the process of trying to salvage it by not giving Mj a window to tell him how she felt?

“Guys, lay off, he doesn’t even like Mj.” Ned, his savior, cuts in. “He likes someone from his internship.” 

“What? Who?” Betty asked, sounding completely unbelieving to the statement. Peter didn’t blame her, while no one else other than Flash harassed him for lying about his internship with Tony Stark, that didn’t mean they believed him either. 

“You wouldn’t know her, she’s a princess.” Ned whispered, gaining unamused looks from the three girls in front of them. Peter mentally retracts his previous statement about Ned being his savior. 

“A princess. Peter knows a _princess_ from his internship with Tony Stark and he likes her and that’s why he isn’t going out with Mj.” Sally recapped what sounded like lies on top of lies with a straight face. 

“I never said I liked her!” He cut in, very frustrated by how this is playing out. “There is a princess at my internship but I’m not supposed to tell anybody,” He eyes Ned, who looks apologetic, out of the corner of his eye, “but I don’t have a crush on _her_. And even if I didn’t like someone else, I still wouldn’t date Mj because I don’t like Mj!” Peter finished, standing up (a little dramatically) and turning to leave, not missing the shocked faces looking at something behind him. He spun around and froze as he saw Mj, standing still a few feet behind him, with an unreadable expression on her face. Crap, did she hear his stupid, totally misleading declaration about him not liking her?

She gave him a blank look and spun on her heels, walking back out of the door without a word. So, she definitely heard him, then.

“Mj, wait!” He called after her, which didn’t hinder her stride in the slightest, and took off in her direction, following her out the doors of the cafeteria and to the back of the school.

It wasn’t hard to keep up with her, considering he was superhuman and she was just power walking, but she didn’t stop (no matter how many times he called out to her) until they were outside behind the school. Once they were out the doors, she spun around suddenly, causing Peter to run into her. She took a step back to put some distance between them.

“I don’t like you.” She said before he could apologize. His face fell as he silently confirmed to himself that he did fuck up their friendship. He drew his attention to his shoes and was about to turn and leave when, “Hey, loser. Eyes up here.” She called out to him and he looked back up at her, slightly confused. “What I meant was-- and what I’m pretty sure you meant to say back there in the cafeteria-- is that I don’t have a crush on you. You’re one of my best friends, Peter, and it hurts me dearly to say that I wouldn’t hit that.” She said, sounding sincere but her word choice making it clear that they were still friends.

Peter breathed out a sigh of relief, “oh thank god, not that you aren’t a catch or anything--”

“--excuse me--?”

“--but this has been stressing me out all week, I’m so glad you don’t like me! Ned had that crazy idea that you did, and then Betty, Cindy, and Sally kept pestering me about it, saying how we were obviously into each other, which, no offense, but where the hell did they get that idea? You all saw me trip all over myself when I liked Liz, and how I act around you is completely different!”

“If you acted around me the way you did around Liz, I probably would’ve punched you and filed a harassment report.” Mj said, earning a laugh out of Peter, that got rid of all the tension they had when they first came out here.

Silence passed over them as their laughter diminished. Peter was about to turn and suggest they head back inside and clear up the misunderstanding between their friends together when Mj took a step forward and opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, then closed it again as if she changed her mind. “Mj? You-- do you have something else you wanna get out?” He asked, clearly not used to Mj being hesitant with her words. Mj looked greatful at his words and took a breath while nodding.

“I’m gay.” She stated. “I… I like girls. I don’t like boys.” She looked him in the eye and waited for his reaction.

“You-- you are?” Peter asked.

“I am.” She confirmed.

Silence fell upon them again as Peter struggled to get his thoughts together.

“I…” Mj looked up and saw Peter’s face light up as he tried to find his words. “Me too!” He said happily, taking a few steps forward and standing in her personal space, looking at Mj like she was the best thing to ever happen to him. Then he backtracked, “I mean, wait, not that I like girls and not boys, it’s the opposite! I mean, no it’s not, I do like girls! I just also like boys!” He rambled, freezing when he said the last bit. “I… like boys.” He repeated, more to himself than to Mj, who nodded along anyways, giving him her full attention. “I’m bi, I like both, I just have a preference for boys.” He shied away from her as he explained himself, but Mj reached and grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze, reassuring him. “You’re really cool, Mj, and if there wasn’t already a guy I liked, I probably would’ve fallen for you eventually.”

“Oh, that’s reassuring then,” she joked and watched him scramble to respond.

“Uh-- not like it would've made a difference to you! I was just saying, and, uh--” 

“I get it, Peter. You don’t need to fuss over this so much, I get it. You’re okay.” She simply said while Peter smiled wide, tears welling up in his eyes.

“You’re okay too.” He replied, happy tears slipping down his face. Mj smiled back and drew him in for a hug, something she’s never done before, but it was happily received by Peter, who hugged her with all he had without crushing her.

They pulled away after a second, but Peter kept hold on her hand, like it was anchoring him.

“How come you never told anyone?” He asked, wiping his tears away.

“No one ever asked.” Mj shrugged, “You?”

“I mean, May knows, she’s always kinda known. Didn’t try and hide it or anything, but you’re the first person I’ve actually told. I tried to tell Ned yesterday, but it didn’t-- go well, I chickened out.” Peter frowned, not meeting Mj’s eyes.

“If you’re worried about how he’ll react, don’t be. It’s Ned, he’s your best friend and has been by your side for as long as I’ve known you two dorks,” She gave an encouraging smile, “You two will be fine. If not, I’ll be here for you too, but I highly doubt it would come anywhere near that.” He dropped the frown, but he still wouldn’t look back up at her. “I can be there with you when you tell him, if you want. You aren’t alone in this.”

“I might take you up on that offer.” He replied, slowly looking up at her again. She squeezed his hand once more before letting go.

“You ready to head back in and face the music?”

“Uh, not really, to be honest…”

“You wanna stay out here for the rest of lunch?”

“Yes, please.”

Mj smirked, “yea, I figured,” and took a seat on the ground and leaned against the wall. She looked up at Peter and patted the floor next to her. “So, tell me all about how much you like, what was his name? Harry?”

Peter sat next to her, “his name is Harley, and I’d much rather talk about the way you look at Cindy when you think no one’s watching.” He smirked, and Mj’s face dropped.

“Oh, this was a mistake.”

“Probably, yea! But there’s no getting rid of me now!” Mj rolled her eyes and fought a grin.

“I don’t like you.”

Peter smiled, “I don’t like you, either.”

_______

**Friday, After School.**

Mj found Peter a few steps away from the door to the gym, pacing and looking at the ground in deep thought. He was freaking out.

With a sigh, she approached him and grabbed his shoulder, getting his attention. He looked relieved when he saw her and immediately began to talk about everything that was going with in that moment.

“Mj, thank god! What do we do? When we go in there, they’ll try and ask us about what happened, then what do we say? Ned’s been texting me since lunch and I have over 100 messages from Betty alone!” He said, grabbing Mj by the shoulders and shaking her while he spoke.

She grabbed his hands and pulled them off of her shoulders. “What _I’ll_ do, is go in and start practice. If they ask me about it, I’ll tell them what happened. I won’t out you, unless you’re okay with it, and then I’m going to hold practice like regular. Stop panicking.” She said, trying and failing to calm him down.

“But what if--”

“No. Okay, you can have practice off today.” Mj said, which immediately shut him up. “You’re way too stressed over this and it might mess with the practice. Just go out and patrol early today, I’ll handle it. Without outing you, I promise. Everything will be fine. You’re okay.”

“You’re okay too,” Peter replied immediately, not quite processing her words. “Okay, I’ll go, uh-- good luck with them.” She nodded and turned to walk to the door. Peter made what sounded like a choking noise and she turned back around to see him looking at her shocked, like he just realized something that might be important. “Wait, you know I’m Spi--?!”

“Huh,” She smirked, cutting off what he was going to say, “who knew that Spider-Man swung both ways.” and continued through the doors to practice, leaving Peter stunned in the hallway.

Mj pushed through the gym doors and was immediately hounded by Betty, who probably waited by the doors for her to come. Ned, Cindy, and Sally, who were sitting at the tables, got up when she arrived and joined Betty in asking her about what happened with her and Peter.

“Are you okay? What happened after you guys left?” Betty asked.

“Did he break your heart?” Sally interjected.

“Did _you_ break _his_ heart?” Ned said, earning a glare from Sally.

“Did you guys work everything out? Are you together now?” Cindy spoke up.

Mj wore a stern look on her face and rose her hand to quiet them down. Surprisingly, it worked. The four went silent, leaning forward in anticipation to find out what went down between her and Peter.

“Peter and I never liked each other. He likes someone else and I like girls. We’re just friends. Let’s get to practice.” Mj stated, walking away, leaving no room to question her explanation. She stood behind the podium and shuffled her note cards, a bit anxious to finally start practice and leave this week’s problem behind them.

Her friends, of course, followed after her. They all bore shocked expressions on their faces. Betty stepped up and spoke in a low voice, as if what she was about to say was a secret, “Wait, you like girls? Not guys? For-- for how long? How come you never said anything?”

“I never liked guys, and I never said anything because no one asked. I’m a lesbian.” She repeated, returning to her notes with slightly shaky hands.

A beat passed before, “I thought you were American.” Ned joked, smiling goofily to let her know that he accepted her. Mj snorted and called him a loser under her breath, her shoulders less tense.

“Hah, called it, always knew you were a dyke.” Flash hollered from where he sat across the room. Mj’s face fell as she turned to look at him, fixing a glare at him instead of verbally responding. He just smirked in response, narrowing his eyes as if they were daring her to deny what he said.

Until his expression switched to panic so fast Mj almost got whiplash just from looking at him. Hitting him square in the face, a blue, sparkly pencil bag flew across the room and knocked him out of his chair. Mj turned to look behind her at Cindy, who still had her arm out from throwing her bag. She had an angry glare on her face, one Mj had never seen before on her, aimed to Flash, who was trying to get up off the floor. She looked back to Mj and winked, letting her know that she accepted her and had her back. Mj felt her face flush a bit and let a smile grow on her face.

Mj turned to Betty and Sally, who still had yet to say anything about her being gay. For a second, she was worried they weren’t going to accept her. A worry that passed over the moment it came when Sally stepped forward and encased Mj in a surprise bear hug.

“I saw that look. What, you think we’d reject you for finally being honest about yourself? And you called _me_ crazy when I tried to become a vigilante just so I could hook up with Spider-Man.” Sally pulled away with a grin and a pat on the back to let Mj know she accepted her. She took a step back, letting Betty rush through and take her place in the hug.

Standing on her toes, Betty reached up and wrapped her arms around Mj’s neck, pulling her down to her level a bit. “You’re still Mj.” she started, Mj wrapping her hands around Betty’s waist in response. “You’re still my best friend. This doesn’t change much, I just know one more fact about you than I did the day before.” 

Mj smiled and pulled back a bit, looking down at Betty. “Thanks, Betty.” She pushed back the tears that threatened to leave her eyes.

“And, you know, if you wanna make you telling me more about yourself a regular thing, I’d be totally okay with that.” Betty added, letting Mj know that she accepted her.

“Yea, no, I still got that weird, mystery girl vibe going on. This is the last personal thing I’ll be sharing for a while, enjoy it.” Mj teased and the five of them laughed to themselves. “Okay. Can we please get through practice now? We haven’t had a successful one all week and it’s been killing me.”

“Sure we can. Take it away, Captain.” 

Mj grinned, this could not have gone better.

_______

**Friday, 7:00pm.**

**Peter** : so how did it go? What did you say??

**Mj** : I came out to them and they backed off.

**Peter** : just like that? Did they ask about me?

**Mj** : no, peter, me telling our team that im a lesbian did not make them want to ask about you.

**Peter** : you know what i meant!

**Peter** : how did,,,, ned react?

**Mj** : he was actually the first one to say he accepted me.

**Mj** : well, kind of

**Mj** : he referenced a vine

**Peter** : i thought u were american

**Mj** : you guys are on the same wavelength at this point. Its gross get a room

**Mj** : i told you there was nothing to be worried about.

**Peter** : youre right

**Peter** : im gonna tell him now

**Mj** : arent you at your internship right now

Peter looked up from his phone to see the other three interns that were in the lab with him right now. They were all currently gathered in the group lab, seeing as Riri’s lab was still being fixed up after Harley blew it up, Harley liked to spend all of his free time messing with her, and Shuri made a habit of recording them whenever they got into one of their fights, which was right now. 

Somehow Harley had gotten ahold of Peter’s spare web shooters (he probably broke into his lab for them) and had webbed all of Riri’s tools to the ceiling, which she was currently trying to get back in her armor while also firing her repulsors at Harley whenever he tried to come out of his hiding spot.

When Peter had arrived, Harley tried to coax him into helping him mess with Riri, by saying he was outnumbered (even though Shuri kept herself in the corner of the lab, recording everytime Riri fired at Harley and declaring herself as Switzerland.) Peter almost joined his side, but one glare from Riri convinced him that he valued his life over teaming up with a cute boy.

**Peter** : ill go in another room and call him

**Mj** : youre gonna come out over the phone.

**Mj** : peter do not come out to someone over the phone

**Mj** : peter

**Mj** : oh my god he can’t hear me he has airpods in

Closing his messaging app, he opened his contacts and hovered over Ned’s. He looked at the other three in the room with him and quickly slipped out of the room and into his lab unnoticed. He takes a deep breath and clicks on Ned’s contact, holding it up to his ear and mentally preparing himself--

“Peter? Are you okay? You didn’t come to practice and haven’t been answering my texts.”

Oh, he picked up right away. 

Peter was not ready for this at all. 

“Peter?” Ned called out again when he was met with silence, startling Peter a bit and causing him to abruptly end the call and throw his phone across the room.

He probably could’ve handled that better.

He pushed his hands over his face and tried to work up the nerve to go pick his phone up to call him back. With a sigh, he walks over to where he threw his phone. He spots where his phone landed and sees his backpack tossed on the floor, half open with his things spilling out from when he threw it into the room and went to the group lab instead. He sees his costume peeking out and grabs his mask. With one last look at his phone, he puts the mask on.

“Hey, Karen.” He greeted, with a sigh.

“Hello, Peter. Your heart rate seems to be elevated, would you like to hear some breathing exercises to help calm you down?”

“No, no, that’s fine, I’m okay. I’m just trying to figure out how to come out to my best friend.”

“You come out to him by telling him, Peter.” Karen remarked.

“No, I-- I know, Karen, it’s just hard to say, is all. I mean, what if he doesn’t react well? And doesn’t want to be my best friend anymore? I know that’s an irrational thought, he accepted Mj when she came out to him, but I can’t help but worry. God, this was so much easier when Mj came out to me before I did to her.”

“So, you want Ned to come out to you first so it’ll be easier to come out to him?”

“What? No, I just meant-- well, actually, if Ned wasn’t, y’know, straight or cis, I’d want him to come out to me because he’s my best friend and I want him to know I’d support him no matter what-- I just meant that when I came out to Mj, it felt safer because I knew she was like me. I’m just not sure how to start with him.”

“I think you’ll be fine regardless of how you say it, Peter. Ned is your best friend, and if he accepted Mj, he’ll surely accept you too. You have nothing to worry about.” Karen assured him.

“Yea, yea, you’re right. Okay. I’m gonna call him back, uh-- Karen?”

“Yes, Peter?”

“Do you-- do you mind sticking around while I call him? Also, don’t record this or anything, I’d just feel a little better if you were here with me while I do it.”

“Of course not, Peter. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Karen.” Keeping his mask on, Peter picks up his phone and called Ned back.

“Hey,” he started, nice and simple.

“Are you okay?” Ned asked.

“No, yea, I’m fine. I’m great, I just… need to tell you something.” 

“You’re not dying, are you?”

“What--? No! It’s nothing like that!” He takes a breath and listens to Karen’s words of encouragement in his ear. “Remember yesterday? When I, uh, told you that I liked someone from my internship?”

“Yea, you said it wasn’t the princess, right? Unless you just told that to the girls so they’d stop grilling you, that means it’s the other girl, Riri?”

“Uh, no, actually. I don’t like either of them.”

“So you lied then? That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad. We were being ridiculous about you and Mj, it’d make sense that you’d resort to lying so we’d back off.” 

“No, Ned, I didn’t lie. I… remember Harley?”

“The one who you said tried to attach a potato gun to his Iron Man suit? Yeah, what about him? Does he know about your--” Peter squeezed his eyes shut as Ned let out a small gasp. “Wait, is _he_ your…? Have you been trying to tell me that you like _him_?”

“Yeah, Ned. Harley’s the one I have a crush on. I like a boy.” Peter confessed, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to keep his breathing under control.

“Peter, I’m so sorry, you tried to tell me and I just brushed you off. With Liz and everything, I thought you-- I thought--” He cut himself off with a sigh, “I’m sorry Peter. I’m a terrible best friend.”

“What?! No you aren’t! You just didn’t know, and it’s okay! You’re, like, the only one I’ve told. Well, aside from Mj… and May. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“How… long have you known? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I mean, always? I’ve always known I liked boys like I liked girls, but this is the first time I’ve ever actually liked a boy… this much. It’s why I’ve never said anything until now.”

“Oh.”

“Are you…? I mean, does it bother you? That I’m, well--”

“What?” Ned quickly interrupted, “Peter, no, it doesn’t bother me that you’re bi. I’m just--” Ned let out a sigh while Peter gripped the table in front of him. “Peter?”

“Yea?” He choked out, getting teary-eyed under his mask.

“I’m glad you told me.”

“Yea, I’m--” He let out a shaky laugh. “I’m glad too.”

“I love you, Peter. You’re my best friend. I’ll see you Monday, alright?”

“That’s unless I need my guy in the chair over the weekend,” Peter paused as he heard Ned laugh. “Hey, Ned?”

“Yea?”

“Love you too, man.”

Peter hung up his phone call with Ned with a smile on his face. He slipped the mask off and went to wipe his tears away when he heard his lab door sliding open. He turned to see Harley walking through the door that he thought was locked, carrying two web shooters in hand and covered in repulsor shaped scorch marks.

“Peter?” He called out, and Peter dropped to the floor and hid behind the table. He shoved his mask under the table and used his shirt to dry his eyes, trying to make it look like he hadn’t been crying a few seconds ago. He heard Harley walk deeper into his lab, “Peter? You in?” He asked again, then stopped. “Friday, I thought you said Peter was in his lab.” Harley said, addressing the AI.

“He is. He is currently sitting behind the table five feet to your left.” She responded.

Harley raised a brow and walked over to said table. He crouched down and peeked around the corner, “Peter? Why are you-- hey, are you okay?” He asked when he saw Peter’s red eyes. He dropped the web shooters on the floor and sat down on the floor next to Peter, reaching an arm out, but hesitating to touch Peter.

“Yea, yea, I’m fine, I just got off the phone with my best friend. It was just... an emotional conversation, I’m okay.” Peter said, giving a small smile and wiping his already dry eyes to prove it.

“Alright… you wanna talk about it?” Harley slowly returned the smile, placing his hand gently on Peter’s shoulder.

“Uh, no, it’s fine, really. Thanks though.” They sat in a comfortable silence, holding each other’s gaze before Peter became acutely aware of just how close the other boy was to him. His face flushed red and he sat up straight, willing away his thoughts of Harley and how easy it would’ve been to close the gap between them. “So, what did you come in here for?”

“Oh,” Harley took his hand off Peter’s shoulder and turned to grab the discarded web shooters off the ground. He held them out to Peter with a sheepish look on his face, “Came in to return these, sorry I borrowed them without asking.” Peter smirked and took the web shooters, looking them over.

“Oh, don’t apologize to me. These aren’t mine, after all.” Peter said, nodding his head towards one of his Spider-Man suits on display.

Harley’s eyes widened, “wait, you aren’t gonna tell Spider-Man I borrowed his web shooters without asking, are you?”

Peter hummed, pretending to be deep in thought as he looked over the web shooters again, “I don’t know… Hey, is it just me, or is the mechanism of this one sticking a little?” Peter gasped, turning back to Harley, “You didn’t _break_ one of Spider-Man’s web shooters, did you?”

“What?! Dude, no way, it was like that when I took-- I mean, when I borrowed them!” Harley yelled, shoving Peter when he dropped the act and started laughing. “Quit laughing! Peter!”

Peter dropped the web shooters back on the floor and covered his mouth in an effort to muffle his laughter. “Or--” He tried to say, but cut himself off with more laughter. “Or what?” He watched as Harley reached out and grabbed one of the web shooters off the ground and pointed it at him.

“I’ll web your mouth shut.”

Peter narrowed his eyes and snatched the other web shooter from the ground and webbed one of Harley’s hands to the table and one of his feet to the ground in a swift motion. “Wha--! Oh, it’s on, Parker!” Harley fished a swiss army knife from his pocket and cut through the webs on his hand. Peter barked a laugh as he sluggishly dodged the rapid fire webs coming from Harley, firing a few webs back.

_______

**Saturday, 9:30am.**

“So, this is my lab, mind the mess, Harley and I were messing with my web combinations last night and I forgot to clean.” Peter said, stepping over some of the knocked over, somehow undamaged, lab equipment.

“I thought you said they didn’t know you were Spider-Man, but the more I look at the suits displayed and the spider-themed robot designs everywhere, the more I’m convinced this is Spider-Man’s lab, not Peter Parker’s.” Mj said, picking up a prototype for his spider bots.

“They don’t know, they think I’m Spider-Man’s tech guy. I could walk around in the suit and they’d think I was testing it for him.” 

“I ask again, why don’t you just tell them? Didn’t you say two of them were training to become Avengers?”

“Secret identity, Mj. You wouldn’t understand.”

Mj narrowed her eyes at Peter, “you just like it when they talk about Spider-Man to you without realizing that it’s you they’re talking about.”

“You don’t need to call me out like that.”

“Whatever, I wanna meet them. Where are they?”

“Riri’s probably in the group lab, since hers is still getting fixed after Harley blew it up.”

“He sounds charming.”

“He is.” Mj rolled her eyes, but a smile was evident on her face. They walked into the group lab, which was obviously a lot bigger than Peter’s. Only one person was there, a girl with goggles on hunched over the table, not reacting to them when they came in.

“Morning, Riri!” Peter said, stopping next to her station.

“Good morning, Intern #3.” Riri dryly replied.

Peter turned to Mj, who wore a confused look on her face after hearing what Riri called Peter. “Oh, Riri has nicknames for us. She calls me ‘Intern #3’ because I was the last one of us she met. She calls Shuri ‘princess’ because, well, she’s a princess. And-- hey, what was the name you called Harley?” Peter asked, turning back to Riri, who looked up from the repulsor glove she was tweaking.

“I call him by his superhero name, Iron Boy.”

“IT’S IRON LAD!” A voice shouted from above, startling the two girls. Peter knew Harley was in the vents because of his enhanced hearing, he also heard Harley up there with a bucket full of something that he was probably going to dump on Riri, who was sitting below a vent opening. Riri gave a sigh and pushed a button on the arm she was working on and it wrapped around her, stopping just below her shoulder. She aimed it towards the vent opening and shot it, opening the vent to show a surprised Harley, who began to slip out from it. Peter raced under it, holding his arms out to catch Harley. The bucket Harley had fell with him, landing on the floor and spilling out--

“Is that jello? Were you gonna drop jello on Riri’s head?” Peter asked Harley, who sat comfortably in Peter’s arms.

“Well, yeah, it’s only like 9. Gotta start small.” He replied, as if the girl he was messing with wasn’t two feet away from him, armed. 

“Oh, this is Michelle, by the way. Mj this is Riri and Harley, two of the people I work with.” Peter said, turning back to Mj with Harley still in his arms, though it looked like neither of them minded.

“Hey,” Harley greeted, then faced Peter, “did you just work-zone me?” He asked.

“That’s not even a thing.” Peter said back.

“It is, too.”

“Get a room.” Riri interrupted.

“Make us.” Harley replied, childishly sticking his tongue out at her before wrapping his arms around Peter’s neck. 

Riri glared at Harley then faced Mj and held out her armor covered hand. Mj hesitantly took it and they shook hands. “Nice to meet you, please save me from them.” 

“You love us!” Harley shouted, earning another glare from Riri. She turned to Mj and nodded, before power walking away from Harley and out of the lab as fast as she could.

“I’m borrowing your lab, #3!” She called out as she left.

“Mind the mess!” Peter called back. He turned to Mj, “so, what did you think? They’re cool, right?”

“Yea, we’re cool right?” Harley leaned forward with Peter and Mj contemplated telling them to get a room and leave, like Riri had.

“Yeah, despite that limited interaction, I’d say they’re cool. Jury’s still out for you specifically though, Parker.” Mj replied.

“Hey, has she met Shuri, yet?” Harley asked Peter.

“No, Shuri said she was going to be in her lab working on something important and to not bug her, so I was gonna introduce them in a few hours.” Peter explained.

“Shuri’s the princess, right?” Mj asked.

“Yea, that’s the one.” Harley turned back to Peter, “You haven’t tried going to her lab anyways?”

“I’m pretty sure she locked it and filtered Friday to only give her messages if it’s an emergency.” Peter answered, and Harley cursed.

“That damned lockdown mode. Why do all geniuses have to be so introverted?”

“Harley, you’ve used that protocol at least 4 times this week. You're the one who named it the 'Actually, Cassidy, I am busy’ protocol.” 

“What’s the easiest way to get Shuri here without blowing up the lab?” Harley asked, ignoring Peter.

“At least he’s learned from his mistakes.” Peter said, mostly to himself.

Harley snapped his fingers, “I got it!” and jumped out of Peter’s arms, racing to a nearby drawer. He rummaged through it before pulling out a small round device about the size of his fist. He placed it under his chin, over his throat, and pushed a button. “You guys might want to get ear plugs.”

Peter sighed and while Harley wasn’t looking, used his web shooters to grab two noise cancelling headphones from the other side of the room for him and Mj. Harley opened the lab door and stood in the doorway. He cleared his throat,

“ROAD WORK AHEAD?” He shouted, and the device on his throat amplified his words like a speaker so that Shuri would be able to hear from her lab down the hall.

Not a second later, Shuri emerged from her lab whilst on a hoverboard, barreling down the hall to get to the group lab.

“UH, YEAH! I SURE HOPE IT DOES!” She called back, flying in through the lab doors and hopping off her hoverboard. She caught her breath, “this better be important. I was upgrading my hoverboard!” She told Harley. Peter walked up to said hoverboard that was still airborne, floating next to Shuri.

“This is awesome! Is this repulsor tech?” Peter asked, crouching down to see the underside of the board.

“Yep, Stark lent me his plans, in exchange for a smidge of vibranium. And since I’m so generous--” Shuri started, a smirk growing on her face until she looked around the room and finally saw Mj, who awkwardly stood next to a lab table. “Uh?” She stopped, smirk slipping off her face as she stood there, frozen.

“Uh, hey?” Mj said, lifting her hand and giving a small wave. Shuri stared back, staying silent. Peter and Harley shared a look, a knowing smirk making its way onto Harley’s face. He stepped forward, facing Shuri, who still hadn’t moved.

“Hey, before you two get acquainted, can I ask you a question real quick away from everyone else? Cool!” He asked Shuri, then linked arms and dragged her off after taking her silence as an answer. 

“That was… strange,” Peter noted, looking towards Harley and Shuri, who didn’t leave the room to talk, but instead scrambled to the nearest corner. “This is the first time I’ve seen her freeze like that. Do you think she might be sick or something?” He asked, looking back to Mj for her opinion.

“Yeah, yeah, sure…” Mj trailed off, looking over at Shuri and Harley, not quite listening to Peter. Something he picked up on instantly.

“What’s up?” He asked, waving a hand in front of her face and looking back and forth from Mj to Shuri, confused.

“What? Nothing.” Mj replied quickly, then went back to looking at the two on the other side of the lab.

“Why do you keep looking over at them? Do you--” Peter stopped, and gasped upon realization. He spoke in a hushed voice, “Wait, do you like her? Like, like her, like her? You’ve got that look in your eye! Oh my god, are you gonna wanna ask her out? Oh my god--” Peter cupped his hands over his mouth, like he was sharing a secret. Mj slapped his hands down and leaned down slightly to whisper back.

“Stop making it weird! Introduce me.” She said, looking over at Shuri and Harley, who seemed to be done with their conversation and were making their way back to them.

Peter looked confused, “Uh? You’re Mj?”

Mj wanted to facepalm. “I mean introduce me to _her!_ ”

“Uh, right, yeah!” Peter said, turning to face Harley, who had a shit-eating grin on his face and Shuri, who looked… _nervous?_ “Shuri, this is my friend, Michelle--” Mj interrupted him and took a step forward, causing Peter to scramble back out of the way.

“My friends call me Mj.” She said and stuck her hand out in front of Shuri.

“Shuri.” She introduced, and shook Mj’s hand. Neither of them let go. “Uh, would you be interested in hearing about my projects?” Shuri asked hesitantly, cheeks flushed. Mj smiled and nodded.

With a wide grin, Shuri tugged on Mj's hand and led her to a section of the group lab on the other side of the room. Once there, she let go of Mj's hand to start gathering her projects stored there and began talking about them and explaining how they work when Mj asked.

“This is weird.” Peter said to Harley, the two of them watching Shuri ramble about her inventions with Mj. “I’ve never seen Shuri so… humble when she talks about her work.”

“Ah, young love.” Harley sighed, then turned to look at Peter with a distant look in his eyes. “Do you think if we set Riri up too, she’ll stop being so crabby?”

“If she hears you saying things like that, you’d probably get a repulsor blast to the face.”

“Probably, yea. Hey,” Peter tore his eyes away from the girls and faced Harley, “since they're busy, and Riri probably initiated the lockdown mode for your lab, wanna come to mine and help me with my armor again? I could use some pointers.” Harley smiled as he watched Peter’s face light up.

“Uh, yeah! But, are you sure you wouldn’t rather have an opinion from someone who’s more experienced with Iron Man armor?”

“Nah,” Harley linked his arm with Peter’s and begun dragging him out of the group lab and headed for his. “Tony just nags me whenever I try to do something slightly risky and Riri just silently judges me the whole time. You’re way better company.”

“Thanks!” Peter beamed, and allowed himself to be dragged off to Harley’s lab.

**Author's Note:**

> not happy with a few scenes but what can you do. like i said in the tags theres no beta and im too lazy to go back and read all 12k words looking for my mistakes so if you see a spelling, grammar, or continuity error pls let me know so i can fix it :)))
> 
> also this is part 1 of a series! the next story might include peter's first meeting with harley, riri and shuri, that'd be a mess. a third part would be peterharley , shurimj centric (probably slowburn) with riri in the bg wishing these gay ass teens would stop bein so oblivious around each other. and theres a planned fourth part that i won't elaborate on (hint tho: its angsty)
> 
> but then again im not great at promising to keep up with fics so we'll see ;))


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